Scientific Learning Announces Spring Webinar Series: Building Brain Fitness and Autism Interventions, among Topics

Educators Will Learn How to Increase Students' Brain Fitness to Improve Learning: "Teaching Digital Natives" Author Marc Prensky among the Presenters

OAKLAND, Calif., May 12, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Scientific Learning /quotes/comstock/15*!scil/quotes/nls/scil (SCIL 5.14, +0.09, +1.68%) , creators of the Fast ForWord(R) family of products, today announced the spring line-up of speakers for its live webinar series. Featuring renowned educators, authors and experts in reading and speech pathology, the series is designed to help K-12 educators understand how "brain fitness" can inform classroom instruction and empower students to gain success in learning and in life.
Scientific Learning's webinar series begins May 12 with a session titled, "Building Brain Fitness for Struggling Students to Succeed," presented by Dr. Deborah Kolonay, superintendent of the Penn-Trafford School District in Pennsylvania. A life-long educator and administrator, Kolonay will relay how her district uses technology to help struggling, at-risk students build stronger, more efficient connections in their brains -- and a deeper connection to learning and school.
Dr. Timothy Rasinski, professor of literacy education at Kent State University, leads the second webinar one week later on May 19. Titled, "Teaching Fluency: The Neglected Goal of the Reading Program," the session will focus on the key elements of successful reading programs, and share effective and engaging strategies that will move students toward greater reading comprehension and proficiency.
On May 25, Dr. Mark Keen and Cindy Keever will explain how students at the Westfield-Washington School District in Indiana achieved phenomenal gains through the use of individualized, adaptive computer exercises. Students using the Fast ForWord programs at Westfield-Washington showed an average advancement of one year, one month, after an average use of the program 30 minutes a day for 70 school days.
Speech-language pathologist and autism expert Ann Osterling will speak on May 27 and June 15 about the characteristics displayed by autistic students and how K-12 educators can support these students through interventions and other programs.
The spring seminars will wrap up on June 17 with internationally acclaimed author and speaker Marc Prensky with a presentation titled, "Engage Me or Enrage Me: Educating Today's 'Digital Native' Learners." Author of the books Digital Game-Based Leaning and Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning, Prensky will explain and demonstrate not only how students have changed, but how educators can deal with the changes and learn from them.
The webinars are free of charge but pre-registration is required. For more information on dates and times or to register, visit http://www.scilearn.com/company/events/webinars/ - webinar.
About Scientific Learning Corp.
Scientific Learning creates educational software that accelerates learning by improving the processing efficiency of the brain. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscience and cognitive research, the Fast ForWord(R) family of products provides struggling readers with computer-delivered exercises that build the cognitive skills required to read and learn effectively. Scientific Learning Reading Assistant(TM) combines advanced speech recognition technology with scientifically-based courseware to help students strengthen fluency, vocabulary and comprehension to become proficient, life-long readers. The efficacy of the products has been established by more than 200 research studies. For more information, visit www.scientificlearning.com or call toll-free 888-358-0212.